Outback Ghost

by Rachael Johns

  ‘Did your mum teach you to play that game?’ Stella caught Adam’s question as she sat down to join them. He glanced at her, his eyes twinkling with a smile. ‘She’s got quite a hand on her, your girl.’

  ‘More like she taught me.’ Stella reached out and tucked some flyaway hair behind Heidi’s ears. ‘You saw that game on Playschool, didn’t you, sweetheart?’

  Heidi nodded.

  And then silence descended on the table. Heidi grabbed her colouring pencils and notepad out of Stella’s bag and got busy drawing while Stella and Adam smiled at each other awkwardly. Stella racked her mind for something suitable to say but seemed unable to get past the issue of whether or not he was single. She was completely tongue-tied. She tried to open her mouth to initiate polite chit-chat but she couldn’t think of one benign thing to say. It was pathetic. Adam appeared to have a similar problem.

  Finally Frankie delivered a massive homemade meat pie to the table, placing it in front of Adam.

  ‘Hmm… that smells delicious,’ Stella said to Frankie as much as to Adam.

  ‘Once you taste one of my pies, you’ll never look back.’ Frankie grinned proudly. ‘Isn’t that right, cuz?’ She ruffled Adam’s hair affectionately and then looked to Stella. ‘Your quiche and toastie will be just a moment.’

  ‘Thanks Frankie,’ Adam said as she returned to the kitchen.

  Cuz. The word rang out in Stella’s head like a victory tune. She couldn’t help but be pleased by this information.

  ‘Don’t wait on our account,’ Stella said, gesturing to his plate with a grin she couldn’t tame.

  ‘Of course I will.’ He took a sip of water instead and then asked, ‘How’s your day been so far? Heidi told me you’ve been making castles at the beach.’

  She nodded. ‘I had planned on taking her to the park and also checking out the main street but the time got away from us. The beach was beautiful this morning.’

  ‘Bunyip Bay has that effect,’ he said. ‘Farming can be gruelling at times but we’re lucky that on the other side of town, we have the kind of sight that most farmers only dream of. And when the lack of rain gets us down, we only have to drive a couple of k’s to see all the water in the world.’

  ‘Do you spend much time at the beach?’ she asked, trying to ignore the image of Adam in nothing but swim shorts that appeared in her head.

  Seemingly oblivious to her torrid thoughts, he shrugged one shoulder. ‘Not as much time as I’d like. When I was young I surfed a bit but the farm is pretty time-consuming. Especially now I’m doing it on my own.’

  ‘Did your father used to work with you?’

  He nodded and glanced down at the pie. ‘He retired at the beginning of the year.’ Another pause and then he looked up and met her gaze. ‘You may as well know, he left yesterday.’

  ‘Left?’ She wasn’t entirely sure what he meant.

  ‘The reason I forgot to meet you at the cottage was because I had other things on my mind. Dad landed the news yesterday morning that he was leaving Mum and by midday he was gone.’

  Stella’s hand flew to her mouth. ‘Oh, I’m so sorry.’ She hadn’t been expecting that and experienced belated guilt that she’d landed on him and his mother in the middle of a family drama. No wonder Esther had seemed so despondent when they’d arrived.

  He shrugged again. ‘It’s not your fault. One of these things. To be honest, the more I think about it, the more I think it might be best.’

  She nodded, having absolutely no clue what to say to that.

  ‘But I wanted you to know that I’m not normally so scatty and I’m sorry that your arrival wasn’t as smooth as it should have been.’

  ‘Seriously, please, don’t apologise. There’s no harm done. Heidi and I are already in love with the place.’

  ‘Really?’ His surprised expression confused her, but she chose to ignore it.

  ‘Yes. I can’t remember the last time I fell asleep without the sounds of traffic in the background or woke up to such fresh, clean air. I could have sat outside on the veranda all morning but unfortunately Heidi and I have different ideas about what constitutes fun.’

  He glanced at Heidi and smiled. She was still scribbling furiously in her pad, although Stella had no doubt she had one ear cocked to the adult conversation.

  ‘She’s a great kid,’ Adam said and Stella got the feeling he wanted to say more. No doubt he wanted to know about Heidi’s condition, ask why she was a single mum, why she’d chosen to spend their summer, Christmas – a time most people spent with family – in a small town where she didn’t know a soul. Luckily he didn’t ask any such questions because Stella didn’t want to answer to anybody.

  ‘Yes, she is,’ she said instead, reaching out and tweaking her daughter’s salt-water soaked pigtail. ‘I’m very lucky.’

  Frankie chose that moment to deliver Stella and Heidi’s lunch to the table. She added a side plate of a giant choc-chip cookie and a small-sized chocolate milkshake that Stella hadn’t ordered.

  ‘On the house.’ Frankie grinned conspiratorially at Heidi and then looked back to Stella. ‘Consider it a welcome to Bunyip Bay special. Enjoy.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Stella replied, nudging Heidi under the table.

  ‘Thanks,’ echoed her daughter, her eyes glued to the cookie.

  ‘I’ll catch you all later,’ Frankie said, squeezing Stella’s shoulder before turning to go back into the kitchen. It was only when she was gone and Adam finally picked up his cutlery to eat his own lunch, that Stella realised Frankie hadn’t stared at Heidi in the way most people did when they first met her. She wondered if this was because Adam had prepared his cousin when he’d told her about having new guests at the cottage or if she was one of the few people who saw Heidi as an individual, not someone with Downs. Either way, it enamoured the energetic café owner to her even more.

  Between mouthfuls of food, Heidi asked Adam questions about the farm, about Bunyip Bay, about his favourite television shows, about pretty much everything under the sun. Adam replied as if he was grilled regularly in such a manner by excited little girls, never for a moment giving indication that the conversation annoyed him, but when he’d finished his pie, he made his excuses.

  ‘Thanks for the company over lunch, ladies.’ He looked specifically at Heidi. ‘You made what is usually a mundane experience for me very enjoyable indeed. I’ve got to get back to work but be sure to come say hi if you see me round the farm.’

  ‘I will.’ Heidi grinned up at him, revealing the gap in her mouth where she’d lost her two front teeth last month.

  Stella was torn between being incredibly grateful for the gorgeous way he’d interacted with her daughter and being slightly jealous that Heidi had commandeered all Adam’s attention. For this reason, she breathed a sigh of relief when the little bell on the door of the café signalled his exit. Although she slumped back in her chair, her gaze followed him across the road, her stomach flipping in the manner of a silly school girl’s as he opened the driver’s side door and climbed up into his big Ford ute.

  Oh Stella, she thought to herself as she took a much needed gulp of water, time to get your grip back on reality.

  Adam reversed his ute out of the car park and made a conscious effort not to glance back through the café window as he drove past. The last thing he needed was another glimpse of the face that had been on his mind all night. His heart raced from sitting so damn close to Stella for near on half an hour. If he ever managed to get the scent of her floral perfume combined with the salt of the sea in her hair out of his head it would be a miracle. She probably thought he’d had to leave because Heidi’s questions were driving him batty but the truth was the little girl’s questions were the only thing that had kept him grounded.

  Interacting with Heidi had stopped him staring goofily at her mother. He tried to recall a time he’d felt such an intense pull to someone before or met someone with the kind of captivating natural beauty that Stella had, but no memory or face came to him. His m
ate Monty would laugh if this truth ever came out – all the swimsuit models that had thrown themselves at Adam over the course of the last few years, and the person who’d come closest to affecting him was someone’s mum. It was ironic if he thought too deeply about it, which of course he didn’t intend to do.

  In his experience thinking or talking about things didn’t usually do as much good as people wanted to believe. Still that hadn’t stopped him opening his big mouth up about his dad leaving. What the hell was that about? He figured that due to the way his mum never left the house, theirs might be one secret that actually could be kept from the small town gossips. At least for a while. But that was a lost dream now he’d gone and told a stranger that Dave Burton had finally left crazy Esther. Well, he hadn’t exactly put it that way but anyone who’d overhead the conversation – and there’d been plenty of people within earshot – would read it that way.

  Damn. He rested his head briefly on the steering wheel, thankful that he knew the road to his place as if its twists and turns were tattooed onto his skin. The buzzing of his mobile phone jolted him from his thoughts.

  He answered on the hands free. ‘Hello, Adam speaking.’

  ‘Adam. It’s Dad.’

  He smiled at the way his dad felt the need to introduce himself when he knew his voice almost as well as he knew his own. ‘Hi Dad. How are you?’

  ‘Yeah, good. I just wanted to see that you and… and your mother are okay?’

  It was barely twenty-four hours since he’d driven off the farm but it seemed a lot longer. Adam sighed. ‘We’re fine, Dad. Got a little girl and her mum staying in the cottage and Mum seems quite taken with them.’

  ‘Really?’ Adam understood his dad’s surprise wasn’t due to the fact someone was staying in the cottage but rather that his mother had taken an interest in something other than her grief.

  ‘Yeah.’ But he hadn’t meant to bring the conversation round to Stella – he wanted to get her spellbinding face out of his head. ‘What are you up to? Did you make it to Perth last night?’

  Dave hadn’t been exactly clear on his plans when he’d left Annadale. He said he was headed for Perth but might stop somewhere along the way if inclined to do so. ‘Sure did. I’m staying with the Montgomerys.’ They were family friends from way back and the parents of Adam’s closest friend.

  ‘That’s great. Any idea on what you might do next?’ Adam didn’t say it but he thought his dad a little long in the tooth to stay on someone’s couch indefinitely.

  ‘Actually, yes. I’ve booked a place on a cruise that leaves Fremantle next week. We’re heading up the Indian Ocean coast and cruising all round Asia.’

  The idea of his dad trapped on a boat boggled the mind but it was the ‘we’ that piqued his interest. ‘Going with a friend?’

  ‘No. I’ve joined one of those tour groups, so I’m sure there’ll be plenty of people to talk to and hang out with.’

  Hang out with? Adam needed a lie down. Since when did his dad say such stuff? ‘Sounds good. I hope you’ll take lots of photos.’

  ‘Will do. I’ve bought one of those smart phones today and there’s wi-fi on the ship, so I’ll be sure to send you lots of updates.’

  Great, while Adam was stuck in the header from sun-up till way after sundown, his old man would be living the high life on the high seas. Of course he didn’t let any of this bitterness enter into his voice. ‘You have a great time.’ Adam had relished the opportunity to take on the responsibility of the farm and his dad deserved to finally live a little; he only wished his mum had gone with him.

  ‘I will,’ Dave replied. ‘And I’ll try to catch you again before I leave. Good luck with harvest, son.’

  ‘Thanks, Dad.’ He disconnected the phone and thought about the weeks ahead. He was thankful for harvest – not just because this year’s crop was a beauty and would bring in good profit for the farm but because it would keep him occupied for a few more weeks. He might not be able to forget that a gorgeous woman was staying not too far from his house but at least he wouldn’t have the time to follow through on the desire to get to know her. It didn’t take a brain surgeon to work out that time spent with Stella would be dangerous – already he’d told her about his dad and the truth was he’d been so close to spilling the beans about his mum and sister as well.

  If she hung around Bunyip Bay for long enough she’d hear the stories, but that wasn’t the point. The point was he hadn’t felt a desire to open up about his family tragedy with a stranger in a very long time. There was just something about Stella – it was more than her great body and gorgeous face that captivated him and that was the problem. He had no idea if Stella was on the lookout for a boyfriend but even if she was he wasn’t the right person to fill the vacancy.

  Stella Reynolds needed a man who was prepared to step up to the mark and be a father to little Heidi and for that reason alone, she needed a better man than him.

  ‘I hope the food was to your liking.’ Frankie pulled back the chair that Adam had vacated and sat. She plonked a frosty can of Diet Coke on the table and took a sip.

  ‘It was amazing.’ Stella hadn’t had a pastry as crumbly as this quiche since she’d left home. ‘We’ll definitely be back, won’t we, Heidi?’

  Heidi, whose lips were wrapped around the straw sucking up the dregs of her milkshake, nodded enthusiastically. ‘Your cooking better than Mum’s.’

  ‘Hey!’ Stella objected with a laugh. ‘I’m not that terrible.’

  ‘I’m glad you approve,’ Frankie said, reaching out and tapping Heidi on the nose. She leaned over and looked at Heidi’s drawing. ‘Wow. That’s impressive. Do you get your artistic talents from Mum then?’

  Heidi shrugged and Stella knew she wasn’t exactly sure what Frankie meant. ‘Unfortunately I can’t take that credit.’

  Frankie leaned back in her seat as if she was settling in for the long haul. ‘So, you’re staying at the cottage.’ She lowered her voice then and leaned close to Stella as if she didn’t want Heidi to hear. ‘You had an okay night there last night?’

  Stella nodded. ‘Yes, fine. I never sleep well the first night in a new bed but I’m sure I’ll sleep like the proverbial baby tonight.’

  ‘No noises that went bump in the night?’

  Stella frowned, slightly amused by Frankie’s line of questioning. ‘No more than the usual country noises. Why? Is there something I should know about the cottage?’

  Frankie smiled. ‘Adam will murder me for shooting off about it but you’re the first person to stay a night without getting totally spooked by the place.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Uh huh. The first guest we had was a nut job from the city. She thought some psycho was out there trying to kill her.’ She took another sip of her drink. ‘But everyone that’s stayed since then has ended up leaving early, too, and at least half of them have actually told Adam they think the place is haunted.’

  Stella laughed. She didn’t believe in ghosts but had always found the stories about them amusing. Her writer’s brain started ticking. Having just finished a memoir about life of a single mum of a child with Down Syndrome, she’d discovered she loved writing and was contemplating trying her hand at fiction. If she could actually make a living out of writing books, then she’d be able to work around Heidi’s requirements so much more easily. ‘Do you think it’s haunted?’

  Frankie shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised. Our uncle Tom lived there until he died a few years ago. He was my and Adam’s mum’s brother and never married. He was a shearer by trade but also wrote this brilliant poetry. Bit of an eccentric guy and the family comedian. I reckon if the place is haunted, it’s Tom come back to have a laugh.’

  ‘Oh well, if there is a ghost there, he sounds like a friendly ghost.’

  ‘Although there is another option that no one’s dared mention.’

  ‘Oh?’ Intrigued, Stella waited for Frankie to elaborate.

  Frankie looked to Heidi. ‘It’s probably nothing and it
’s not the kind of story I should tell in front of little ears. What are you two planning on getting up to for the rest of the day?’

  ‘Going to park,’ Heidi informed before taking a bite of her cookie. It was so big she was struggling to get through it but clearly didn’t want to admit defeat.

  The bell on the door tinkled again and Stella glanced towards it. A tall, well-dressed man with dark features came in and waved in their direction. Frankie waved back as the man headed for the counter. He was undeniably good looking but a little too polished for her liking.

  ‘No point setting your sights on him,’ Frankie whispered.

  At Frankie’s words, Stella snapped her head back to look at the other woman. ‘Oh, I wasn’t,’ she said adamantly.

  ‘That’s Ryan Forrester,’ Frankie explained. ‘Great guy. Many a heart was broken round here when he came out of the closet a couple of months ago. My sister was devastated. Personally he’s a bit too pretty for my tastes but you should see his boyfriend. Phwoar. Hot doesn’t even come close.’ Frankie fanned her face and downed the rest of her drink.

  Stella couldn’t help but laugh. ‘Just as well I’m not in the market for a man.’

  ‘You’re not?’ Frankie sighed. ‘Lord knows I am. Not that it’s doing me any good. The only eligible bachelor I haven’t had a go at is Adam and he’s my cousin, so that’s just ewww. Even I have limits.’

  ‘The men up here must be blind if one of them hasn’t snapped you up yet,’ Stella said.

  Frankie squeezed Stella’s hand. ‘Aw, that’s sweet of you to say. Maybe one day I’ll meet Mr Right and he’ll sweep me off my feet and into the sunset.’

  ‘Then who would make our coffee?’ piped up an old woman from the table behind them.

  Frankie turned and pretended to be annoyed. ‘Stop eavesdropping, Dolce. One day you’ll hear something you don’t want to hear.’

  The old woman laughed and Frankie returned her attentions to Stella. ‘So, you already got a man or are you divorced?’